Brazil rebounds in Dust2.us’ TOTM for February 2023

At the beginning of each month, Dust2.us commemorates the best players inside the Americas Counter-Strike scene by awarding five domestic talents and one coach over the three major competitive layers as members of Dust2.us’ Team of the Month.

This monthly award is handed out to the most impressive tier-one professional Americas talents, as well as the best players inside of the second tier, most notably teams competing in ESL Challenger League. Lastly, to highlight the next best upcoming talent inside of the scene, at least one spot is given to the best player in ESEA Advanced over the month.

The aim of this award is not only to continue to spread the good word of some of the best players in the scene today but also to give a platform of discovery to rising talents who may dominate the servers of tomorrow. As a part of the mission to improve our coverage within the scene, monthly recognition of the best players across the region comes as a natural step in growth.

In our efforts to continue highlighting the performances of the region’s best talents, it is only right that the coaches receive the proper spotlight. Accompanying the five players chosen for the Team of the Month will also be the Coach of the Month, to ensure the mind behind the talent gets its deserved recognition. You can find the all-time TOTM appearance list here.

Continuing in top form for 2023 is Complexity’s Michael “Grim” Wince, the only player selected for both months of the new year. A highly competitive February was a perfect platform to show off his growth as a budding star with impressive performances for both the IEM Katowice and BLAST RMR cycles this month. Although his monthly performances were impressive, it was the RMR event where Grim shined the brightest. His best series in February came in this event against MIBR, as the Complexity talent was pivotal in their BO3 win to qualify for the Americas RMR over a domestic rival.

Making his debut on the TOTM is the newly-crowned future of Brazil, Felipe “insani” Yuji. He was undoubtedly the most impressive talent on this list for the month, dominating any and all domestic events including ECL and the Major and IEM Rio qualifiers. February highlights for insani include 25+ frag performances against the likes of Complexity and G2. With this high-level impact, insani offered proof he has the makings to be one of the next star talents in Brazil.

Joining the list for the third time is paiN’s Romeu “zevy” Rocco, who is back on after a brief disappearance last month. zevy and his teammates were rather active during the short month with 42 recorded maps over six events. In nearly all, zevy was making his presence felt with the AWP and rifle. Like many talents on this list, zevy’s highest points for February came during the RMR and ECL games, an expectation for the top talents in the region. As the lineup goes on, the more zevy looks comfortable stepping up as a win condition for his team.

The second debutant for this month’s list is Detonate’s Keller “SLIGHT” Nilan. His return to competition with Detonate has proved beneficial for all as the team so far has advanced to ECL and qualified for the Americas RMR. During these events, SLIGHT was a catalyst for the team with the big green. He offered notable impact in BO1s against ATK and Nouns to help his team advance further in the Major cycle, and has shown to be an x-factor for his team inside ECL since his injection into the lineup.

Take Flyte AWPer Umar “Umar” Qaiser takes the ADV slot of the TOTM for the second time after an impressive individual and team effort in February. His team went 6-2 on the month, including five straight to end February. A primary catalyst for this success is Umar’s immense impact with the AWP, as made evident by his work in the server. His highlight for February came against 4ORMULA, a playoff team led by former Renegades and Envy player Noah “Nifty” Francis. His 31-frag performance overwhelmed the opposition in a tight game to secure the victory on Inferno.

Earning his third nomination on the list is MIBR’s Bruno “BIT” Fukuda Lima, who had his squad looking like the biggest gainers on the month across the entire region. The arrival of insani was already a huge victory for the team’s long-term success, but their dominance of the region across ECL, the IEM Rio qualifiers, and RMR qualifiers was enough for BIT to earn his third TOTM selection, creating a three-way tie with Damian “daps” Steele and Daniel “sprayxd” Kogan for first amongst coaches.

Dust2’s Team of the Month for February 2023 is:

• Michael “Grim” Wince

• Felipe “insani” Yuji

• Romeu “zevy” Rocco

• Keller “SLIGHT” Nilan

• Umar “Umar” Qaiser

• Bruno “BIT” Fukuda Lima (Coach)